Never the Last
by Khajmer
Summary: The Fire Nation thought they could wipe out the Air Nomads. They were wrong. Now, On Ji, one of the last remaining Airbenders, must seek out Aang to become a true master, and maybe take his heart as well. Summary sucks, but they don't give us enough spa
1. The Wind Still Blows

_**AN: I would just like to take this moment to thank Marisol Maza for giving me this idea. Go read her fic "Avatar High" (which is not the typical "Gaang at high school" type of fic) up to the latest two chapters and you'll understand what I mean /shameless plug for fic that isn't even mine. So anyway, I figure there's no freaking way that an entire race of people could really be wiped out like that, particularly a race of people who would so easily fit the profile of ninjas. Yeah, Airbending ninjas would be awesome. Anyway, here's the work of my brilliance, concieved while reading someone else's fic at three in the morning on the tiny screen of an iPhone in the dark. Yeah, it's a wonder I still have killer vision.**_

**Never the Last  
The Wind Still Blows**

A long time ago, before the Great War, there were Four Nations: The Water Tribes, a graceful and peaceful people who learned to control the water from the moon; The Fire Nation, a proud and tempered race who could make flames spout from their hands; The Earth Kingdom, a strong and noble race of men who could move the earth itself; And the Air Nomads, the adventurous and good-humored race of people who controlled the winds and skies from their four great Temples. But the Fire Nation got greedy. They grew quickly, mastering the arts of forging, industrial power, and the crafting of steel, but their advances had a painfully obvious price. The Fire Nation's lands had never been known for being rich in natural resources, and their new industrial revolution was quickly burning what little they had away. Combine that with their latest fire lord, Sozin, a megalomaniacal madman on a massive power trip, and you've got one answer: war.

It all began with the death of Avatar Roku, of the Fire Nation. By the Avatar's cycle, that meant that the new Avatar would be an Airbender. But Sozin was patient. He knew he didn't have enough forces to properly find him and kill him without anyone escaping with him. So, he waited, waited for a day that had been predicted by historians, the day of Yang-Chen's Comet (named for the Avatar who famously discovered it). Based on his studies, on the day the comet appeared, it would amplify the power of every Firebender ten-fold. It would come longer before the Avatar would discover who he was and leave the temples to become fully realized, and so he would be sure to eliminate him and all other Airbenders for good measure in one fell swoop. And then the day came.

The attack hit the four Temples like a typhoon. The Northern Air Temple, though it was the pinacle of the Air Nomad's technological and cultural achievements, paled when faced with the war machines of the Fire Nation. The Eastern Temple literally ran red with blood (though an odd Guru later came and cleaned the place up by hand). The upside down Temple in the West shook and nearly fell itself to the bottom of the ravine it rested on. Oddly enough, the invasion of the Southern Air Temple very nearly failed, the efforts of Monk Gyatso holding back the Firebenders for as long as he could, but in the end, he fell, and the Southern Airbenders did as well. The genocide complete, Sozin sat back and waited, expecting the new Avatar to be born in the Southern Water tribe, as the last one was in the Northern tribe and like the regular Avatar Cycle, the Water Tribes had a cycle between them (which was strangely absent in the Air Nomads, or maybe not so strangely due to the random nature of the winds). In any case, no longer having the advantage of a magical comet and facing their polar opposite, the Fire Lord did the most logical thing he could do: he declared war on both remaining nations and just occasionally sent members of the Fire Navy to the South to kill as many as they could and capture any Waterbenders they could find. But oddly enough, the new Avatar never showed up.

Angered, Sozing realized that the new Avatar must have survived, escaped, and hidden himself. And so he spent the rest of his life hunting the Avatar, leaving the war to his generals, until the day came that he deemed himself too old. At that point his eldest son Azulon took up the quest to find the Avatar, and continued the journey until he, too, grew tired of it and returned to allow his son, his younger son Ozai as the elder had already decided to take a stronger interest in the war, to take up the torch. Ozai did not last as long though, as he was as diabolical and brilliant as his grandfather was, and knew that it was a fool's errand at that point. Rather, he found better use for his time in plotting to steal the throne from his elder brother Iroh. In the end, he had his nephew Lu Ten assassinated, and blamed it on the Earth Kingdom, then, through clever plotting, deception, and assassinating his own father, he became the new Fire Lord while his brother became a disgraced general. And then it came to be that Ozai's own son Zuko, in combination with a painful burn to the face, was punished for insolence (if good-natured insolence) and disrespect (if good-natured disrespect) was commanded by his father to hunt for the Avatar in order to restore his honor, and banished. And so it was that the cycle began anew, the royalty of the Fire Nation forever to hunt for the Avatar, the last Airbender.

Or was he? After all, who's to say that all the Air Nomads were at the Four Temples on that day? No, that would not make sense. The great explorers of the world, the adventurers who traveled the Four Nations as a hobby, why would they all be cooped up together in the temples, particularly when the view of a majestic comet that only shows up once every century is best in, guess where, the Fire Nation. There were a few more scattered across the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes, but they remained mostly concentrated in the Fir Nation to view the beautiful (and sadly deadly) spectacle that was Yang-Chen's comet. After the tragic event, the last few hundered survivors all realized that they had to lay low. The Fire Nation needed to believe that the Nomads were all dead, or else they would track them down and kill them off until they really were gone. To protect their culture, they would have to remain hidden until the Fire Nation was defeated, and if not... the few times that they actually arranged meetings with each other, they all agreed it would be better to simply off themselves.

Years passed and the war dragged on for a hundred years. The surviving Nomads were very careful to only marry amongst themselves within the Fire Nation, though in the other nations they were free to take whatever partners they wanted, and they did have children, and plenty, but sadly no matter how many children they had, the number of Airbenders was dwindling. Many of the children lacked the gift, if not most, and in fact, those in the Fire Nation hid the gift from their children who did have it, for fear of exposure. It seemed that though the culture would live on, the gift of Airbending would inevitably die out. Until the day that Avatar had returned.

The now old survivors of the Nomads and their families rejoiced at the news. The fact that the return of the Avatar (the original Airbending Avatar from a century ago no less) had arrived so close to the hundreth anniversary of the death of their people was clearly a sign from the Spirits themselves that the war would end soon, and that they would win. Months passed though, and yet the Avatar still had not defeated Ozai, still had not freed them from their self inflicted prisons, and still had not given them the chance to restore their people to their former glory. Most of the Air Nomads both old and young had lost hope. But not one. There was one Nomad left who still believed in the Avatar, and knew that he _would_ restore balance to the world, no matter what. A young Airbender, one of the last in the world, with barely any knowledge of her art, and she knew that not only was the Avatar destined to save the world, but that somehow, she was destined to help him, and to learn from him. And if not, then she would make it her destiny as soon as she could reach him. Her name was On Ji. And this is her story.

A few coins clattered on the counter and the girl thanked the man behind it. She turned away, towards the stairs, and walked towards them, yawning slightly after her long day of walking. That was one of the things that most depressed her about the loss of the Air Nomads, the simultaneous loss of the sky bisons. Not only did they make excellent modes of travel, but they were supposedly great companions and life-long friends. A shame. But without one, On Ji had to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple, and if that wasn't where the Kuzon... the Avatar was, she would have to walk even farther to find him, so she might as well get used to it. As she walked up the stairs of the inn to the room she had just rented, she sighed. Here she was, an Airbender, one of the four great benders, known for their amazing and fun ways of getting from a) to b), and here she was with no glider, no bison, and no idea of how to go about making an air scooter ('_Note to self: Get the Avatar to teach me that'_). Thinking about it, that was just sad. An Airbender needing to walk. But On Ji quickly shook those thoughts from her head when she reached her room and opened the door. The room inside was small and cramped, with a dirty futon for a bed lying on the floor. The room itself was filthy, and the smell wafted straight out into the hallway, causing On Ji to wrinkle her nose in disgust. It was dark too, and while there was a candle in the room, there were no matches, further evidence that even the simple "non-bending" citizens of the Fire Nation itself were inferior to firebenders. And the girl had neglected to bring any matches herself, too. It wasn't exactly a perfect room, but even though On Ji had access to plenty of money, she could only take so much, and it needed to be preserved for the week's walk to the Temple. She sighed once again, and stepped into the windowless room, closing the door behind her and gingerly feeling her way to the futon with her foot. Finally she found it and laid herself across the tiny matress, closing her eyes and releasing large bursts of air from her nose to blow away the smell in an attempt to drift away into dreamland.

_She was a normal girl. Playing simple games with her friends, going to school, spending time with her family, living a normal life for a non-bender. Her family was relatively wealthy, and had good enough credentials to eventually get her into the Fire Nation Academy for Girls, what with her father being a fairly high ranked Firebender in the army and all. She would get a good education, marry some nice guy, and become a housewife, same as most of the other non-bending women in the Fire Nation. But then came the day when the news of the Avatar's return spread, and her grandmother heard the news. She immediately came to visit, paying On Ji's father no mind, same as always. She really hated Father. But the odd thing was, she ignored On Ji's mother as well. Instead, she went straight to On Ji, alone, and got her to come to stay with her for a while, because she had a special secret to tell her._

_She was an Airbender in training. Grandmother had told her that important secret, and it seemed to fit in On Ji's mind. The young girl didn't doubt the fact for a second. And all of a sudden, Grandmother (who was now to be addressed simply as Gran when in private) became her teacher, instructing her in the basics of Airbending while at the same time teaching her both the ancient culture of Airbending and the secret of their existence after the Fire Nation's genocide. On Ji proved to be a natural, easily breezing throught the first four levels of Airbending, though the cultural differences between the two nations were difficult to keep up with. Still, it was all very exciting. Working under the radar and keeping the traditions of an entire race alive, and there was so much to learn, it could've lasted forever._

_She was an untrained Airbender. Gran had passed away a week ago. She was now back with her family, her strict soldier father and her completely oblivious mother she didn't dare tell. She knew only the most basic of Airbending, and back in the old days, according to Gran, she would be on level with five year olds. And she went about life again. Life as normal. Strict, rigid life, with no fun music (only the traditional music of the Fire Nation, which, while nice, couldn't compare to an Air melody on the Sungi Horn, played by a true Airbender), no artistic freedom, very little fun that she could derive from playing the rather basic (and militarily directed as well) games encouraged by their instructors, and worst of all, no dancing. Gran had taught her to dance. The old woman still had some bounce in her bones, and she had shown On Ji how to dance, and On Ji had absolutely loved it. The motions, both subtle and extravegant, the balance, the grace, it all fell together so naturally, and mixed with Airbending so easily. It was absolute bliss to her, and she couldn't have it anymore._

_She was a girl in love, even if she didn't realize it. His name was Kuzon, and he was just the nicest guy. She'd had been having a nice conversation with him too, until that jerk Hide decided to come flaunt his ego for a while. Ugh, what had ever possessed her to go out with him that one time? Now he acted like he owned her, and she couldn't speak out against it because "it wasn't proper". In any case, Hide dragged her off to try and kiss her (yeah right bub. A couple well timed head movements and you get nothing with no clue why), and she hadn't seen him until the next day at school, when he made a fool of himself and then, in the pop quiz, surprised her by showing knowledge of the day of Sozin's Comet. Almost first-hand knowledge. Was he like her? She couldn't know, and she couldn't check. But it would be amazing._

_She was having the time of her life. Kuzon had shocked her once again, hosting a secret dance party in a cave and inviting everyone (except Hide. No one wanted Hide there). She really couldn't help wondering if he really was from the colonies, or if he was something... else, especially with his dances from a hundred years ago. A hundred years... but then he did something she really didn't expect, and asked her to dance. Now, to be clear, she had avoided dancing simply for the purpose of remaining seemingly conformed to society. Really, she wanted nothing more than to go onto that dance floor and bust a move, so to speak, but she couldn't. Until he offered the chance. No matter how hard she tried to resist, she couldn't say no to those bright gray eyes. And so she danced, some really interesting Earth Kingdom dance (which in and of itself was suspicious because according to him it was "how they do it in the ballrooms of Ba Sing Se", the city that had been captured less than a month ago with all Earth Kingdom citizens placed under house arrest. How could he have learned that already? No, it wasn't possible, which meant he'd have had to have been in the city before it fell. There was no way he was Fire Nation, even from the colonies. Could he be... but still, she smiled and danced with him until he invited his friend to dance with him instead. And they looked good together. That oddly bugged her_

_She was determined. Hide had decided to be an ass and bring the Headmaster and several military guards to crash the party, and had nearly gotten Kuzon caught. It was only by the sheer brilliance of one of their friends that he managed to get away, when everyone disguised themselves by mimicking his headband. But then, it was the strangest thing. Another one of her friends said he waved to Kuzon as he left, and he swore that the rear cave exit literally closed up, a wall of rock. So, that meant he was either travelling with an Earthbender, or he was... she had to find him again. Somehow, she had to find where he was. Because he was an Airbender, a master no less, and he was perfect to teach her to Airbend. Absolutely... perfect._

_She was on the run. She just left a note on her bed telling her parents she had taken some money and left, and adding a side note to the bottom asking them to give the second letter she left beneath the first to her friend Shei, which basically consisted of "Shei, do me a favor, go find Hide and kick him in the crotch for me". She went on a long journey, picking up what few tidbits she could pick up about the Avatar, until she got a major breakthrough when the news of the Day of Black Sun invasion spread throughout the Nation. A heavy assault on the capitol during a solar eclipse when the Firebenders didn't have their bending. And what's more, because the Fire Lord had had prior knowledge of the attack, it had failed, miserably. Apparently all of the adults were captured, while the younger members of the group excaped, including the Avatar! And all it took was a quick check of her map to know that the most obvious, safest place in the world for an Airbender and his bison was the Western Air Temple, the mighty palace that hung upside down from a cliff face. A smile crept across On Ji's face. She knew where he'd be, and now all she needed to do was get there. _


	2. The Western Air Temple

**A very special thanks to everyone who reviewed the last awesome chapter (all three of you). And now, I declare it to be Awesome Khajmer Day, because today marks the first and probably last time I will ever write up two chapters so close to one another, and due to the awesome day, I may just write chapter 3 today as well. So please, give me a pat on the back before preparing your pitchforks and torches for the angry mob that will surely form out of my readers (all four of you. If you haven't reviewed, Alerted, or Favorited it then you don't count) And now without further adieu, please welcome the new chapter (and fyi, for those wondering where it is, the universal disclaimer is in my bio).**

**Never the Last  
The Western Air Temple**

A flash of brilliant light awakened On Ji as her room's door was pulled open, temporarily blinding her while she rolled over. She could hear voices as well, but the only bit she was able to discern was "Nah, too skinny to be her", and then the shuffling of feet. A few seconds later, she had become re-accustomed to light and was now wide awake, quickly but silently shuffling over to the wall near the door and pressing her back against it. Slowly, she peeked around the doorframe, and saw two Fire Nation soldiers standing in front of another room. They were holding posters up to them, a third posting a few more to a wall, and talking excitedly amongst themselves as one pointed in and another shook his head. It was probably a raid, they were looking for criminals staying at this seedy little inn. On Ji shook her head, and twisted her fingers sharply, bending the air discreetly to carry what they were saying to her more easily. She then froze at what she heard.  
"I'm telling you Chei, it's the Avatar. Just look really closely at him, and you'll see exactly who he is!" One was saying,  
"Lee, he also doesn't have Airbender tattoos, has the wrong color eyes as his description, has hair, and, oh yeah, the Avatar's twelve and this guy must be at least eighty!" The other chided.  
"Excuse me," Came another voice from inside the room. "But I am sixty-four years old and proud of it. Now, since I am clearly not the person you are looking for, would you gentlemen please leave me to my my morning tea? Unless you would care to join me? It's Jasmine."  
"Be quiet you crazy old man." The second soldier snapped, and On Ji chuckled. Now that was a guy she could get along with. She then took a peek around the rest of the hallway, and noticed more Wanted posters across the hallway. There were quite a few of them, and she could instantly see why, as Kuzon (or Avatar Aang, as the picture called him) was up there, along with the girl he had danced with before (she unconciously clenched her hands into fists for a second), the blind girl she had seen at the dance party (The Runaway, it called her, apparently both a master Earthbender and an expert hussler. Her bounty was almost as high as that of the Avatar's himself), another boy she remembered seeing there as well (nothing special about him, it just showed that these people were all Kuzon's companions), a few other people she didn't recognize but were all wanted for assault on the Fire Lord's life, meaning they were the escapees of the Day of Black Sun invasion, three people who'd apparently escaped from the Boiling Rock (wait a second, the Boiling Rock? The prison mothers threaten their children they'll have them sent to to make them behave? The unescapable prison in the middle of a freaking volcano? Note to self: Avoid them if at all possible), Prince Zuko (who had, from what she'd heard, assaulted his father, nearly killing him with his swords, and would have suceeded had the eclipse not ended just in time, and escaped to join the Avatar's group), and the former General Iroh (who'd allegedly torn his jail cell open with his bare hands during the eclipse, knocked out the entire prison guard unit, and escaped the Capitol without anyone noticing him all in the entire eight minutes of the eclipse. Now that one On Ji didn't believe), as well as the usual ones for the Blue Spirit and Jeong-Jeong the Deserter. But then her eyes crossed one poster in particular, and she froze again. And as she dashed around the corner and dived for the nearest open window, she had two thoughts. First, that those soldiers were either idiots or blind, and two, that she couldn't believe her parents had put out a bounty on her return. I mean, who does that?

About a week of soldier dodging and painful walking later, On Ji found herself on the edge of a ravine, staring at the other side before glancing down at the map in her hand and scratching her head.  
"Okay, there's supposed to be a huge temple right there." She frowned. According to her Gran, the Western Air Temple was supposedly a massive structure of stone hanging upside down under the outcropping of a cliff over a massive ravine. According to her map, it was right here. And from what she could see, there was no massive upside down temple here. Which meant either the map was lying, or Gran had gone senile in her old age and the map was lying. Either way it wasn't here, and the ravine was massive. That was one thing the map stressed, that is was absolutely gargantuan. Which meant that On Ji had to start walking now. She turned to her left, since the left had the shortest amount of ground to cover, when she heard something. It was very faint, but it sounded extraordinarily like laughter. And it was definitely coming from the ravine, from underneath. And that was when it hit her. She was looking at the wrong side. All the time she had been looking for the Air Temple, she had been literally right on top of it... well technially underneath it, but the point was she was sure of where it was now. She rushed to the edge of the cliff, stopping just in time with her Airbending grace, and got down to lean over the cliff and look down under, her knees balancing expertly on the rough edge and her hands holding her in place. she leaned as far forward as she could, and stared straight down. From her new vantage point, she was just barely able to make out the outline of a thin spire, almost like a very thin stalagmite but more refined, almost like the top of a building...  
"YES!" She cried, bringing her hands up in joy at her discovery... until she remembered that she was using those to stay on top of the cliff, and not at the bottom of the ravine, which by that time, she was already well on her way to. And then she did the only logical thing for an Airbender to do when falling fifty stories to a rocky grave: she screamed, and screamed and screamed and screamed until she couldn't scream anymore, which came at about the same time she hit her head on an outcropping jutting out from the side of the rocky wall, and her last thoughts as she faded away into unconciousness were _'How ironic that an Airbender dies by falling off a cliff above an Airbender temple.'_

"So how is she?"  
"Well, she seems fine. That blow to the head was nasty, but I patched it up as best as I could without Katara around. So now can I slap her awake and interrogate her?"  
"For the last time, no Sokka. We don't have any reason to be suspicious of her."  
"Aang, have you met me? I'm naturally inclined to be suspicious of people until I'm sure of their intentions, especially people from the Fire Nation."  
"Hey!" This voice was louder and distinctly offended.  
"No offense to you Chit Sang." At this point in the conversation On Ji's eyes fluttered open in an attempt to see the people who were currently speaking, but she immediately regretted it as pain rushed into her head. She involuntarily closed her eyes again and brought her hand up to her head, gently pinching the bridge of her nose with her forefinger and thumb to ease the pain. It didn't work. "Hey, she's waking up." The suspicious person said, and she heard the unmistakable metallic sound of a sword being partially unsheathed. Unlike before, where they did nothing, however, sounds now brought only more pain echoing through her mind.  
"Please don't do that." She muttered. "The sound of my thoughts hurt, how painful do you think all that noise is?" She took in a few calm, deep breaths, regulating the flow of her blood through her breathing and making sure that her brain got plenty, gently easing away the headache until it had vanished. She took another shot at opening her eyes and found a somehow familiar face with a brown ponytail attached to the back looking at her uncomfortably closely, a hand on the hilt of his black-steeled sword. She simply stared at him for a few seconds, eyes wide as he looked her face up and down, attempting to portray all the innocence in the world with them. Unfortunately, she knew all the innocence in the world already belonged to the eyes of the person she was sure was speaking now.  
"Sokka, cut it out. She doesn't need you in her face like that." "Sokka" sighed and pulled away, either satisfied that the girl wasn't a murderous spy looking to assassinate them all in broad daylight with the Avatar present and them all awake to reveal that there were several others around, including the Runaway, the three people who had been on the wanted posters for escaping the Boiling Rock, the three she had deduced were from the invasion, and _him_. Her reason for still living, for never giving up hope, the Avatar himself. At the sight of him she sat up abruptly and stared straight into his eyes, attempting to convey all of her feeling into one single word.  
"Kuzon!" True, he looked a lot different with no hair, and different clothes (especially the missing headband. He looked so good in that headband), but those eyes were definitely the same. Light gray and full of both the wisdom of a sage and the innocence of a child all at once. This was, without a doubt, her Kuzon. He just chuckled.  
"Sorry On Ji, but Kuzon was just an old friend whose name I borrowed. My name is really Aang." At this, Sokka jumped up.  
"Aang, don't tell her anything! We don't know what she's doing here, for all we know she could be a spy!" Aang just looked at him funny.  
"Sokka, first of all, what harm is her knowing my name going to do. I have Airbender tattoos, I'm wearing Airbender clothes, and I'm surrounded by people who are either from the invasion or who were in the escape from Boiling Rock, in your case both. A sloth-monkey could tell you I'm the Avatar. And second of all, what is it with you and thinking every stranger is a spy? Seriously, if you knew what you were talking about with that, the world would be doomed because _I_ would be a spy." Then he returned his gaze towards On Ji. "Which reminds me, On Ji, what _are_ you doing here?" She blushed.  
"Well, uh, I was wondering if, um..." She stood up to bow properly, but wobbled quite a bit before falling back over. Aang rushed over to her.  
"Are you okay?" He asked, concern evident in his voice, and interiorly she smiled, though on the exterior she grimaced.  
"I'm fine. What happened to me anyway?"  
"Well, um, you kind of fell off the cliff."  
"Oh. I remember that."  
"Yeah, well anyway, I heard you screaming and ran out to see what what was going on, and when I saw what was happening I grabbed my glider and flew down to rescue you. I caught you before you hit the ground, but you hit your head on something on the way down and lost conciousness. We had to bandage up your head because our resident healer is off on some secret mission she can't tell us about." Aang grinned, but Sokka jumped up again.  
"Aang!" The Avatar just ignored him though.  
"Wait a second," On Ji said, confused. "If she couldn't tell you about it, then how do you know that's what she'd doing?" Aang grinned again.  
"Why our secret code of course." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a note, holding it up for her to see.

_Guys,  
Went out to "get some meat", don't know when I'll be back. Zuko wanted to come with me (and is currently sitting on Appa, knowing full well that I have no idea how to pilot the zeppelin), take care of yourselves until we return.  
P.S. Aang, Zuko says same drill as before, practice your Firebending while we're away. And work on some Waterbending too, you're still having trouble controlling ice.  
P.P.S. Oh, and Sokka, please don't worry. I can take Zuko in a fight, I can handle some "meat"._

At this point Sokka's mouth was on the floor. "AANG!" Aang still ignored him, though girl standing behind him gave him a thump to the ribs with her elbow. He grinned sheepishly at her and rubbed the back of his head. Everyone present chuckled, and On Ji assumed it was a regular thing here. But then everyone got serious again, and they turned to look at her again. She blushed, and decided to admire the rather lovely patternwork of the ceiling of the room they were in.  
"On Ji?" Came that wonderful voice again. "Why did you come here? Shouldn't you be back in your home?" She took a deep breath, and brought her eyes back to his, surprised to find that he had moved closer to her, but not jumping. And then she brought her hands into the traditional Fire Nation bow.  
"Avatar Aang, I would like to ask that you take me as your student in the art of Airbending." The request actually flowed rather eloquently from her, and she gave a small smile at her ability to keep her cool around him. Until The Runaway burst out laughing.


	3. Disappointment and Contempt

**I warned you they wouldn't come nearly as fast, didn't I? **

**Never the Last  
Disappointment and Contempt**

"Are you quite finished?" On Ji asked in an annoyed voice. The blind girl just kept laughing.

"No... not...yet..." She managed to choke out. Finally, a few seconds later, she managed to compose herself. "Alright, I'm done."

"On Ji," Aang started slowly. "You do know that bending isn't something that can just be gained. It's a skill you have to be born with, and to be an Airbender you have to actually be a member of the Air Nomads. It's possible you're a Firebender, but..." He trailed off, probably to make a point. On Ji just sighed.

"Alright Aang, get ready for a shock. Sorry, but this is the easiest way to tell you this." And with that, she took a breath, and turned to the doorway of the room they were in to the outside. She relaxed her body, twisted on her left heel, and shot her open palm, pointed straight towards the door. The air followed most of her movements lightly up until the last sudden movement, which instead caused a massive gust of air to burst straight through the door. She made it a long gust so that not even the skeptical one could pass it off as random chance, and then brought her hand back in, releasing her breath as she turned around to a variety of crazy faces. There were Sokka, a man who could easily pass for his father, and the girl who had elbowed him earlier, all with their jaws on the floor. The Runaway was looking puzzled, wondering what the hell Aang just did and why, the little kid in the helmet and the guy with the ridiculous moustache had incredulous looks on their faces, the boy in the wheelchair looked... almost excited, for some reason, and the big muscular guy was just staring t her. As for Aang... he looked neutral. Almost as if he was in a state of shock. Slowly, he closed the distance between them and reached a hand up to touch her face, making sure she was real, that she wasn't a hallucination or a spirit in disguise. But no, she was real. A real Airbender, just like him. Impossible but at the same time so real. Then, out of the blue, he reached out and hugged her, held her tight and never wanted to let her go for fear that she may just disappear. Not that she minded at all. She just let him embrace her until the shock finally wore off, and he let go, to her great dissapointment. He stared at her for a few more seconds, before letting out a shaky whisper.

"How? How are you here?" He stammered out. "I thought... I thought that..." On Ji smiled sadly.

"Well we're called the Air Nomads for a reason, Aang. Did you really think they were all in the Temples when the Fire Nation launched their attacks? They've just been in hiding for the past century, and really well too, I didn't even know who I was until after you showed up and my Gran went ballistic. She told me all about it and taught me Airbending... until she died. But since then I felt like I just had to find you, be trained by you. The last true master Airbender. Most of the old ones are already dead, and I don't know any of the other young ones, so if I want to master Airbending, it has to be you. So I ask you again. Will you take me as your student?" She bowed again, this time a proper Air bow. Aang was still speechless beyond barely comprehensible babbling, and took a moment to center himself. When he had, he took on a solemn face, and returned her bow.

"On Ji, it would be my honor to teach you. I will take you as my student." Once again, various reactions popped up amongst the crowd. Sokka, for one, looked mortified, as if this had somehow messed up his grand plan for everything, the Runaway (On Ji made another mental note, learn her real name and everyone else's) looked downright pissed for some reason, the three unidentified people still had incredulous looks, the older man who looked a bit like Sokka seemed to be evaluating her while the girl who'd elbowed said teenager just smiled knowingly, as if she knew something about her (not hard to figure out what). The big guy just looked bored with all the formalities.

"Aang," Sokka started. "I realize how important this must be for you, the whole "keeping your gift alive" thing, but can it _please_ wait until after we've ended this war that's been going on for a century now? You still need to master Firebending, and we're running on an ultimatum." Aang immediately shot him a death glare, but the blind girl cut in before he could speak.

"Not to mention you need to keep your Earthbending in perfect shape." Aang turned his glare to her too.

"Guys, I don't think you _do_ get how important this is to me. I was alone, completely alone in the world for longer than I ever would have thought I could bear, and now I'm not anymore, and none of you could ever get that. You should at least kind of get where I'm coming from Toph. Weren't you alone too? If someone had told you there was another blind Earthbender who wanted to learn, wouldn't you be there in a hearbeat?" The girl, finally named as Toph, stayed silent. "I'm going to teach On Ji Airbending, and I'm going to start now."

"Aang... I can wait." Aang whipped his head around to On Ji, staring at her.

"But..."

"No," She interrupted. "They're right, there are more important things that need doing. I'll wait for you to save the world, and then I'll learn." She said quietly, mentally smacking herself with every word. "_And besides, being near you is enough for me." _She added silently.

"I..." Aang began, but he trailed off. "Alright. It'll wait. For now." Sokka and Toph nodded in approval at On Ji, and she instantly knew she'd earned brownie points with them. Having finally admitted defeat, Aang hung his head and went to a different part of the Temple. As the following bursts of orange light showed, he was obviously going to practice Firebending.

* * *

The week drew on and On Ji did her best to fit in to this group (the Gaang, she mentally labeled them. Don't ask where it came from), which she found both easy and difficult at the same time. Airbenders had never really been known for being similar in culture to the other Nations. Between their connection to the Spirit World, their food habits (she had always made excuses back home to avoid eating meat, and managed to get some more vegetarian-friendly food), and their mastery of the skies, they were definitely the wierd ones amongst the Nations, and that reflected in Aang's friends. Sokka, Toph, and Suki seemed to be fine with it, having clearly had become accustomed to her culture through Aang, as was Teo as he had lived in the Northern Air Temple, but the rest of them were completely detached from Air Nomad society, and it was more than a little akward trying to go through her proper rituals during the day with the odd stares she got. Still, she managed, and gradually they were beginning to accept it as normal. In the meantime, due to the fact that she had been wearing the same clothes for the better part of the last two months, Haru, the boy with the idiotic goatee, had shown her where he, Teo (wheelchair boy), and The Duke (the little boy who insisted that it was _The_ Duke) found some old Air Nomad clothes consisting of a yellow shirt and pants with an orange shawl and belt (**If you haven't figured it out yet, the same clothes as Aang's in the first two Books**). Sadly, all of the gliders in the Temple were either rotted through or termite-moth food, but according to Teo his father would probably make one for her when they got him out of jail. There was also an absence of scrolls, and everyone suspected there had been some burning away of "the barbaric teachings of uncivilized lesser beings". And speaking of burning, Aang had been training himself in Firebending almost non-stop in his desire to master it. No one knew what had gotten into him, as he had always been so patient with his learning before, something about an accident during his first attempt at Firebending according to Sokka. But he was working hard, and everyone appreciated that. Meanwhile, Sokka was filling On Ji into his new invasion plan so far, and trying to fit her into it ("For the last time Sokka, I am not shaving my head and pretending to be Aang!"). However, at the moment it was incredibly half baked and relied entirely on luck. On Ji told him that.  
"Well, it's still in the basest stages. The Fire Lord and Azula are going to be heavily on guard until Sozin's Comet returns and they win the war." Sokka replied. "But the luck thing probably won't change, it's saved our butts a lot of times in the past." And that was how On Ji lived her life now. War meetings, watching Aang train, exploring the Temple, watching Aang train, practicing what she knew, and watching Aang train (she couldn't help it, he trained shirtless dammit!). She also got to know Aang, since when they weren't training he stuck to her like glue. Until Katara and Zuko returned. Then that routine went straight out the window.

On Ji sat loosely, her legs folded across each other and her fists together. Her eyes were closed, and here chest moved slowly up and down as she breathed in. She was meditating, reflecting on her new life, imagining, as she often did, of a world no longer torn by war. One where she would no longer have to hide her true self. Where Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, and Water Tribe could call each other friends once more. However, her meditations were interrupted by a loud noise outside, which sounded like a massive thump. Yes, a massive thump. Followed by a cracking sound but she passed that off as some crumbling rocks. Now having lost her state of inner calm, she stood up and went outside to investigate. She followed the incredibly confusing cooridors in the general direction of the thump, and half an hour later (yes, it took that long. The place is like a freaking maze, and On Ji hadn't even explored a quarter of it), she came out at the bison stables to what would become one of her favorite memories of all time. Her first look at a sky bison.

It was huge, twice as tall as her and at least three times as long, with six legs that would put tree trunks to shame and a beaver-bear like tail. It was covered in shaggy white fur, a brown arrow stretching from the base of the tail all the way to the forehead, and a pair of horns adorned his head. It was both terrifying and breathtakingly wonderful at the same time, and even knowing what it would look like, On Ji was completely unprepared. She stood in the doorframe, looking out at it (he, rather. This was obviously Aang's bison Appa.) from afar, somewhat afraid to approach him. Summoning her courage, she took a few tentative steps forward, and Appa suddenly turned to look at her, caution in his eyes.  
"It's okay." She said, keeping her voice as calm as she could. She spun a small disk of air between her fingers and held it up where he could see it. "I'm a friend." Appa stared at the disk for a few seconds, and then padded over to her. She kept her cool, but inside, she was sort of terrified. The bison came to a stop directly in front of her, his head shifted down to eye level, and blinked before opening his mouth slightly and licking her entire body from her toes to her head with his giant tongue. He then took a few steps back, leaving On Ji half covered in saliva. She stood for second, wondering what the hell had just happened, before bursting out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. She stood there for a second trying to calm herself down, and finally got herself down to simply chuckling. "And here I thought you were going to eat me."

"Nah, he's prefers fruit to people." On Ji jumped slightly, spinning on her heel and almost blowing the speaker straight off of the cliff. She found herself looking at an all too familiar face, although she'd only met the girl once. The chocolate brown hair that came down to hips, blue eyes that sparkled in the morning light, absolutely flawless skin; this was Katara. Her fingers unconciously twitched and for a second she considered going ahead and letting loose a burst of wind anyway. "I'm Katara, Aang's Waterbending teacher. It's nice to finally meet you in person On Ji. Aang's been going on and on about you since we got back." '_Score one for me' _"Well, after he tackled me in a hug I mean." _'... okay, that's one for her.'_ Regardless, On Ji smiled.

"It's nice to meet you too Katara. I'm sure I've heard just as much about you." She said sweetly. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an insult considering how she'd been there for a week while Katara'd been back for maybe half an hour, but Sugarqueen didn't seem to notice, since she smiled back.

"Well, I'm sorry I wasn't here when you arrived. Sokka mentioned that you took a nasty blow to the head somehow, and he's... not good with medicine. He also said that you're still bleeding a bit whenever he changes you bandages, I'm worried it might be infected. Could I take a look at it?" The concern in Katara's voice instantly made On Ji feel incredibly guilty. Here she was, feeling bitter that Katara had Aang's attention so much more than her, and meanwhile Katara, a total stranger, was concerned for her well being. That was not what being an Air Nomad was about. She was supposed to avoid holding grudges against people and accept the way the world was. She was now thoroughly ashamed of herself, and promised to get to know her romantic rival, and be her friend. If Aang wound up with her, then she would accept that. Slowly, On Ji nodded.

"Sure. It has been feeling kind of funny." Katara motioned to a nearby fountain, and they walked over to it together. Katara sat on the fountain's edge, so On Ji sat down on the floor in front of her on her knees. The waterbender fumbled with the knot for a second, silently cursing Sokka and his damn inventive knot tying skills, before finally getting it open and pulling the gauze away. As soon as she did though, she swore in an extremely unladylike manner. "What's wrong?" On Ji asked, a little nervous.

"Sokka mashed up the wrong herbs in the poultice. You're extremely lucky you haven't become sick yet. This could take a lot of healing sessions." On Ji's eyes narrowed. _'Healing sessions?'_ Then she felt two things on the back of her head. One was that feeling you get when you can't see something right above you, but you just sort of know it's there, and the other was an extremely cool feeling, like water. Then there was the odd sensation of energy flowing over her head, and she realized that Katara had some sort of healing ability. How oddly convenient. The water and the energy were suddenly pulled away, and she could feel something else as well. "Okay, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I should probably do that a few more times, but I think I got our most of the impurities in your body. It's a good thing I got back when I did, this could've been a lot worse." The young Airbender's eyes went wide. She had no clue it was that bad.

"Th- thank you Katara." She stammered out. Katara, the girl who until five minutes ago she had hated, just pretty much saved her life. Lot of shame there. Lots and lots of shame. With quite a bit of gratitude mixed in. But mostly shame.

**I don't particularly like ending it like this, but I'm not really sure how I would build on it without it bleeding into the next chapter, something I really don't want to do. You also might notice that I changed the chapter titles, so instead of numbering them I'm naming them.**

**Also, just to note, when Katara says "impurities", it's not referring to physical impurities like bacteria or poison, but energy. I'm thinking that medical stuff, as well as Katara's healing abilities, follow Asian, and more specifically Chinese, explanations of illness, specifically that it's caused by impurities in the lines of energy in one's body(think invisible veins). That's where both acupuncture and massaging as alternative medicines, they stimulate special points in the body which pushes out those impurities naturally. That energy is called chi, and Ty Lee fights by stimulating those points in a different way causing one's energy to move wrong, and can have numerous effects including disabling bending, rendering a person's limbs useless, knocking someone out, causing a person's limbs to react incorrectly (example, you try to move your arm forward and instead you pick up your foot), or even killing a person. Hope you enjoyed this little Chinese culture and fictional science lesson.**


	4. Public Service announcement

This is a public service announcement to let everyone know that the Trinity (Never the Last, Avatar Kina, and the as-of-yet unpublished Butterfly) will officially go on hiatus while I collect my thoughts. That's not to say I won't be continuing them eventually, but my life is insane right now and I really have no idea where I'm going with them yet. But, I won't stop writing for now. My issue was lack of inspiration, but not much inspiration is necessary for a series-reformatting. Thus, expect my new fic, Arbiter: The Last Aergradior soon. Sounds funny, doesn't it? Yeah, I'll explain in the first Author Note.


End file.
